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"Bailout" and "change" were crowned on Monday as the words of 2008 after a year in which a huge financial crisis hit the United States and Barack Obama celebrated a historic victory as the first US black president.
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"Bailout" and "change" were crowned on Monday as the words of 2008 after a year in which a huge financial crisis hit the United States and Barack Obama celebrated a historic victory as the first US black president.
Merriam-Webster Inc., the publisher of a leading US dictionary, said "bailout" -- meaning "a rescue from financial distress" -- was the word that received the highest intensity of lookups over the shortest period of time.
John Morse, publisher of Merriam-Webster Inc., said this was not surprising given that the word ubiquitously featured in discussions of the presidency and fiscal policy.
He said the presidential campaign also produced voluminous hits for words like "vet," which ranked second in the 2008 list, "bipartisan," "misogyny," and the word used to describe both candidates on the Republican ticket, "maverick."
He said one of biggest event-related words of the year was "socialism" which came third in the list of the 10 top lookup requests.
Rounding out the top 10 list were "trepidation," "precipice," "rogue," and "turmoil."
A separate survey on words used in the media and on the Internet by Texas-based Global Language Monitor spotted similar trends, with "change" coming top of its list -- the top political buzzword of the US presidential campaign.
Global Language Monitor, which uses an algorithm to track words and phrases in the media and on the Internet, said "bailout" came second in its list but would have been higher if it had hit the media earlier than mid-September.
"Obamamania," which describes the global reaction to Obama's campaign and subsequent election victory, came third in the list followed by "greenwashing," "surge," "derivative," "subprime," and "foreclosure."
Rounding out the top 10 were "Phelpsian," referring to swimming champion Michael Phelps' feat of winning eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and "Chinglish," the often amusing Chinese-English hybrid that hit the headlines ahead of the Beijing games.
"Global English has been driven by three notable events during the course of 2008: the US Presidential Election, the financial tsunami, and the Beijing Olympics," said Paul JJ Payack, president of The Global Language Monitor.
He said "financial tsunami" was the top phrase of the year followed by "global warming" and Obama's "Yes, We Can," while among the top 10 political names in the media in 2008 were Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Hillary Clinton.
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(Agencies)
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2008年度热词榜于本周一出炉，在金融风暴席卷美国和奥巴马当选美国历史上首位非洲裔总统的形势之下，““援助（bailout）”和“改变（change）当之无愧地登上热词榜之首。
美国权威辞书出版机构梅里亚姆•韦伯斯特公司称，“baillout”（意为财政救援）是今年短时间内查询频率最高的词语。
韦氏公司总部位于马萨诸塞州。总裁约翰•莫斯称，今年“bailout”一词在与总统选举和财政政策有关的讨论中“频频出现，所以当选年度词汇并不意外。
莫斯称，今年的总统大选还催生了 “vet（审查评估）”、“bipartisan（两党连立）”、“misogyny（厌女）”、及用来形容共和党两位候选人的“maverick（标新立异者）”等一系列热词，其中“vet”高居排行榜第二位。
此外，排在前十名的还有一个与时局有关的词就是socialism（社会主义）。
跻身前十名的其它几个词还包括：trepidation（恐慌）、precipice（悬崖；险境）、rogue（无赖；诈骗）和turmoil（骚乱）。
位于美国得克萨斯州的全球语言监测机构对媒体和网络用词开展的一项独立调查也发现了类似趋势，调查结果显示，“change（该变）”为今年媒体和网络上出现频率最高的词，是美国总统大选催生出的最热门的政治流行词。
全球语言监测机构采用一种运算法对媒体和网络上出现的词汇进行了跟踪统计，据其介绍，如果位居第二的“bailout”一词于9月中旬之前就出现在媒体上，那么它就有可能位居榜首。
奥巴马赢得大选在全球引发的Obamania（“奥巴马热”）名列第三，“greenwashing（“漂绿”）”、“surge（增长）”、“derivative（衍生产品）”、“subprime（次贷）”和“forclosure（止赎权）”位列其后。
排在这份榜单前十位的词语还包括：“Phelpsian( 前所未有的胜利)”，主要形容美国游泳名将菲尔普斯在北京奥运会上独揽八枚金牌的辉煌战绩。；以及“Chinglish（中式英语）”，指的令人啼笑皆非的“中国式”英语，在北京奥运会之前它成为报纸的头条新闻。
全球语言监测机构主席保罗•帕亚克说：“今年有三件大事推进了英语全球化：美国总统大选、金融危机和北京奥运会。”
他说，“financial tsunami（金融海啸）”是今年最热门的短语，“global warming（全球变暖）”和奥巴马的口号“Yes, we can.（我们能做到！）”位居其后。此外，奥巴马、布什和希拉里登上今年的媒体十大政界名人排行榜。
（实习生许雅宁 英语点津姗姗编辑）
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